


To know you anywhere

by FrozenBrownie



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: 1905, Albus is a gay disaster, Gellert isn't as much of an ass as usual, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Idiots in Love, M/M, Quest for the Deathly Hallows instead of taking over the world, Reunion, Swearing, wallsex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-11
Updated: 2019-02-11
Packaged: 2019-10-26 00:57:02
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17735972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrozenBrownie/pseuds/FrozenBrownie
Summary: Albus was tired of waiting, of being used. When Gellert showed up at a conference after a year of total silence, he decided that he had finally had enough. Reunion sex hadn't been on his agenda, truth to be told, but if it made Gellert reconsider... Who was he to complain?





	To know you anywhere

**Author's Note:**

> Hi there! University has almost left me out of its worst claws for another five months. Yay! I can write again instead of studying all day! Needless to say, the stress took its toll on me which resulted in me writing this in one go. It's not betaread for once, that happens, I hope it's up to standard all the same.  
> Come say hi on tumblr: [DreamingBrownie](https://dreamingbrownie.tumblr.com/)

Conferences, Albus had long ago decided, either were the dullest kind of event imaginable or days too short, over too fast for the brilliant discussions that developed without a plan, without somebody who needed to encourage people.  
The latter, he had never known until today. Every single event like this that he had attended in the past had made his head hurt with the urge to scream at certain professors of the old school, but this… This was different. He had had his suspicions from the start, as soon as a tall man with a broad back, an obvious liking to dramatic cloaks and an interesting face had talked back to him. To him, Albus Dumbledore, who everybody treated like the next Mozart of magics nowadays. As a young Master of Transfiguration with his Minor done excellently in Rituals, he got invited to all kinds of talks, presentations, interviews not only in England. Only freshly out of the University of Oxford, he spent more time travelling than back at good old Hogwarts these days. And never, never did anybody ever disagree with him. Not anymore. It was rather boring, really.  
Until that day in June of 1905. It had all begun in a harmless enough manner, with tea and coffee served in cups too tiny to develop the rich flavour, and the presentations lining up one after another on a small stage. The sun was streaming through the windows, one of them open, but magically soundproofed to the world outside. Albus had trouble concentrating, as usual, because most of it wasn’t news to him anyway. He knew a lot of people who did these presentations and wanted to get his opinion beforehand. Translation charms took care of the language problem. But then there was an interruption.  
  
“Do you consider Polyjuice Potion a part of True Transformation, according to your theory?”  
For a second, those piercing eyes of the man who had spoken up without raising his hand or his wand first, appeared terribly mismatched. It must have been the light blinding him, making his left eye appear almost entirely white, but Albus’ heart gave a lurch nonetheless. Concerning Gellert Grindelwald, he had always been shite at listing to his gut feeling, but prided himself in the ability to know him anywhere. One always recognized its other half, he supposed.  
“I do not, actually. Of course, Potions and Transformation go hand in hand in a lot of areas, but Polyjuice only transforms the body and subsequently the voice, not clothing.” His own answer settled the matter, he realized with a smile slowly spreading over his face. The deep blue mantle, the black leather boots with clasps at the sides… “I would appreciate you raising your hand first before speaking next time, though.”  
“I’m sure you would,” the stranger who really wasn’t one to him at all replied with a smirk that distorted his borrowed features. What poor man he impersonated again now, Albus couldn’t possibly guess at, but his stomach was full of restless dragons. Finally. Bloody fucking finally.  
  
It neither was the first time they saw each other again after that brilliant summer of 1899 nor would it be the last, but it had been nearly over a year now. And Albus was starved.  
More questions came, now that somebody had broken the ice. He felt more awake than he had all week, his fluttering nerves however didn’t make concentrating on all these people any easier. His time to talk was up sooner than anticipated and he practically bolted from the stage. Some merciful god decided to make the head instructor of the whole event here in Oslo announce a break for coffee and a good smoke, which Albus took, gladly so.  
He didn’t even have to wait two minutes outside the room in a dark corridor, most of the others had either gone out to catch some air or disappeared into the restroom. Utterly alone for the first time all day, he briefly spiralled into a sinking feeling of disappointment. What if he had guessed wrong and that strange man wasn’t Gellert after all?  
  
He was. The illusion fell as soon as their eyes met, it was like looking into clear water. All the wrong details rippled away to be replaced with Gellert’s stunning appearance, his roughly cut chin, his high cheekbones, his dazzling mismatched eyes. He was laughing on the inside, visible only by an amused curl to his pale lips. Albus found himself darting forward and practically threw his entire weight into Gellert’s waiting arms.  
“You bastard!” he nearly shouted and fell into his quiet laughter, heaving with it, muffling his gasps for breath in the space between a swan’s neck and a shoulder broader than he remembered. The smell that filled his nostrils was intoxicating, a familiar mixture of a biting aftershave and _home_ , overwhelmingly calming and exciting at the same time. His heart trembled.  
“Ah, so you have missed me after all.”  
“Shut up and kiss me, Gellert. You should have visited me way sooner, you idiot.” Albus lifted his head from his comfortable resting place and completely failed at keeping the bright smile off his face. Merlin, but he was glad they finally met again. Gellert cupped his cheek more gently than he normally did, holding Albus at the hip rather innocently with the other hand.  
“That was the second time you insulted me within a minute. And you think you deserve a kiss?” His eyes were sparkling with amusement, but they grew oh so wide when Albus buried both his hands in those unruly blonde curls.  
“I deserve much more from you after you have made me wait for an entire year. A year, Gellert! How am I supposed to survive so long without you?” They should take this painful longing more seriously than to use it for their usual banter, he knew deep down, but he really didn’t care right now. Gellert was back from one of his many journeys for the Hallows and he was _here_ , so close, not a hair’s breadth between them anymore.  
  
Who surged forward first and sealed their lips, Albus couldn’t have said. His entire body was singing and he felt the shape of their blood vial press against his lungs when he inhaled deeply.  
“But you managed, didn’t you?”  
“Not half as well as you probably imagine. I should punish you for your absence, really”, he panted between kisses that turned from yearning to heated way faster than anticipated. His heart had hurt, those past twelve months, he had felt empty beyond any explanation and he was constantly tired, physical needs kind of stepped into the background at such a profound lack of half his soul. Now, though… Without wasting another thought to the pain, he sneaked a leg with pointed toes around Gellert’s back and leaned into both his hands with a trust he maybe shouldn’t have showed. Sod it all to hell, he was tired of their little game of hide and seek.  
  
Gellert bit down on his pulsing heartbeat at the side of his throat, something resembling a growl broke free from him. Albus absolutely did not whimper or overstretch his head to grant his lover more space to mark him.  
“Punish me? Albus, dear, now where have you hidden that side of yours from me all this time?” A snap of his fingers and Albus was the one whose hands were thoroughly tied above his head now. Their blood pendant stayed quiet and didn’t get any warmer than Gellert’s skin, so there really wasn’t any need to ask for boundaries. They had never bothered with that anyway. Arching his back, Albus let out a soft little gasp, well aware of the limited time. He honestly hadn’t planned on being taken in any way in a corridor filled with shadows initially. He’d much rather fall back onto a soft mattress lined by expensive silk in some upper class hotel and be impaled on Gellert’s impressive length as they had done last time.  
“Promise me that this won’t be all I’ll get or see from you today.” He barely got the words out. Gellert freed his belt and buttons with skilled fingers, never leaving Albus’ neck with lips and teeth. A warm hand larger than his own cupped the hard bulge through his pants none too gently, he almost felt the smirk carved into his collarbone.  
“Have I ever been cruel with you, dear? To leave you after a quick shag against a cold wall, panting, wanting for so much more?”  
“Yes. You were. The graduation ceremony of a friend of mine, what, three years ago?”  
“Ah.” Gellert clicked his tongue and came back up, circling a finger in thin air. Suddenly, Albus felt detached from gravity, like he was floating without going up. He was still aware of his body weight, but only just. This wasn’t an invitation, this was an order.  
“I do apologize for that. If you let me, I’m going to carry you to bed personally tonight.”  
“Now _that_ sounds like an actual plan for once,” Albus sighed and shuddered against the sudden cold of his trousers being whisked away a few feet into the dark, neatly folded. Either Gellert had lost his wand on his search for the Hallows recently or he simply had gotten good enough at wandless magic that he didn’t bother with drawing it at all anymore. And if that thought wasn’t an enormous turn-on…  
  
Gellert’s fingers were coated with something cold when they breached him carefully. For all his grandeur and his cocky manner, he never, not once in their intertwined lives had been too forceful with Albus on a physical level. Mentally, emotionally, oh yes, thank you very much, he was hurting more than he showed even on a bad day. But this? Not in a lifetime would he have been afraid of Gellert. The quest for the Deathly Hallows had only made him more quiet in his determination, not dangerous.  
His eyes slipped closed on the sight of that mismatched stare, intense in its burning, hungry, eager and impatient. Gellert kept to one finger for about thirty seconds, finding Albus’ sweet spot in the process and making him almost scream with the sudden onslaught of gentle pressure.  
“There we are. Comfortable, love?” Gellert kissed him again, deeply, before Albus had the time to answer. He wouldn’t have found any fitting words anyway, all his cleverness and the eloquence he normally prided himself in fled him entirely as soon as Gellert Grindelwald so much as looked at him, smirking. Lost from the start, he was. No point in denying it.  
  
He was panting with the effort of keeping all those keening sounds in by the time the second finger stretched him open. That mixture of the slight burn and the unrelenting pleasure building until he was drowning in it made it all but impossible to keep quiet.  
“We’re in the – fucking hallway, Gellert – muffle me or _get on with it_!” Those beautiful eyes grew rather large at his husky voice. Normally, Albus wasn’t one to swear easily or demand to be taken right this second until well into a second or third round in bed. Yes, he was starved. Yes, he had missed Gellert like hell and wouldn’t let him go again this time.  
Sinking down onto that exquisite length, moaning, gasping, panting for breath with a wide smile on his face replaced all words necessary to convey his longing. Gellert held still for about a heartbeat before he finally let go on his iron control.  
“You will be the death of me, Albus Dumbledore,” he murmured and threw up a notice-me-not spell woven into a protective shield at the side closer to the bloody main door. Gods, Albus was _exhilarated_.  
“Not for another century if I have any say in it, no,” he replied with a wink and the back of his head almost collided with the wall at the first thrust. It was as good as any smart remark, really.  
  
Glued to the wall magically as his hands were, he could only clench his fists and dig his nails into his palms for lack of something to hold onto. How he’d have loved to claw at Gellert’s back which always became sweaty very soon, no matter how fit he was – and he was, heavens, he was – on the other hand, he was very happy right were Gellert had him. Repeatedly. This was home, he felt utterly filled out as if all the sharp edges and gaps in his flawed soul suddenly clicked into their mirrored counterpart. Not smoothed out, not soothed and glossed over, but cherished, worshiped. Gellert’s fingers dug bruises into his hips and he’d love every single one of them in the morning.  
  
The sound of skin slapping on skin filled the heated air, their rhythm was hard and fast and irresistibly perfect for a proper reunion. Instinctively, Gellert knew what they both needed now, and Albus loved him all the more for it.  
“Let me – Gellert, please, _please –_ hold onto you, I want to touch you, heavens – gods – fuck –“ A rather dark chuckle turned into a moan when Albus tightened his hold that he had on his lover with his legs. The spell holding him up was breaking apart with each drag and thrust, the concentration needed having become all but impossible. Gellert kissed him stupid again to silence him, no doubt, used teeth and tongue and was bitten into the lower lip for it. His responding laugh made both of them shake, just as something sparked between them. Only for a heartbeat, his eyes darted to Albus’ invisibly shackled hands. They remained firmly in place, like their pendant did, silent.  
“Keep begging and you won’t be there for the end of – that bloody conference – boring, all of them – You’re brilliant, Albus, you know that, don’t you?” Another one of those sparks, magic flying unchecked, short and colourful instead of lashing out. Albus threw his head back and arched off the wall, moaning in a language that had neither rules nor vocabulary. Raw and laid open as a book, coming apart, falling, falling, this was where he belonged.  
“I’ve _missed_ you,” he choked and let go. His eyes flew wide open, still smiling, an almost surprised sound escaped his lungs. Shockwaves of pleasure pulsed through him and he was spilling, keening, arching, keeping himself from a scream. Gellert watched him as if in awe and only doubled his efforts, carried him through that height until he, too, fell over a very steep cliff. Only then Albus’ arms sunk from their point at the wall, throbbing painfully.  
  
They both went limp in unison, the spell against all gravity flickered out of existence without so much as a word. Albus buried his face in the sweaty crook of Gellert’s flushed neck again, clutched onto him for dear life and panted for air until he could breathe again. And Gellert held him. For once, he didn’t flop back onto whichever closest surface he could reach, but cradled him in his arms possessively as if the mere thought of separation pained him. The city could have burned outside, stars could have fallen from their place in the blue summer sky, and they wouldn’t have noticed. Albus kissed his relief into every inch of freed skin, spanned Gellert’s back now broader than his own with both hands, fingers spread wide. They were a mess, both of them, and he didn’t find a care in the world for it.  
“Stay,” he pleaded so very softly, immediately Gellert went rigid. But Albus didn’t relent this time. “Stay, Gellert!” He managed to lift his tired head and look him straight in the eye to be met with something like grief. There was fire beneath it all, for sure, Gellert just worked that way. He never stopped thinking, not for a second until either Albus sucked his brains out through his cock enthusiastically or when enveloped deep in a peaceful slumber. What was going on in that thick skull of his however was beyond Albus right now.  
“You have no idea how hard this is for me, do you?”  
“I’ve got every idea, you prick. That I work at Hogwarts now,” and here Gellert’s entire expression went sour, “is the sole outcome of me searching the entire damned continent for you. If you’d have left so much as a card for me, a name, a symbol, a flower – I would have found you. Where the devil have you been?”  
“San Francisco,” Gellert replied shortly and smoothed back the auburn hair clinging to Albus’ forehead. “You say you have searched for me, but here I find you working and living in Hogwarts of all places. How am I supposed to visit you there?” Albus huffed. Now that was just rich.  
“I couldn’t wait and sit on my ass until you showed up again, given that you made me wait for bloody five months last time, so I had to take Headmaster Black up on the offer. Otherwise I’d be working for the Ministry now. And we both know that either that would have gone south very soon or they’d be appointing me for youngest Minister in all of England’s history now.”  
  
Normally, such words would send Gellert back kicking and screaming into… to … wherever he usually lived at. Or maybe he travelled with only a backpack, free to go where he wanted to, unnoticed, a shadow in the darkness. But he was just as tired, just as broken and worn out as Albus himself, he could see it all so plainly in the dark circles beneath Gellert’s mismatched eyes.  
“Youngest Minister of Magic…” They shared a smile of times gone by and Albus kissed him again, neither softly nor pleading for being shoved against that wall again. They moved together in perfect synchrony and he saw Gellert’s eyes slipping shut on instinct. When they parted, he felt like crying.   
“Yes, well. I’d make a terrible Minister, moaning about incompetent staff all the time because nobody _gets_ me. Nobody knows me, Gellert. Not really.”  
“Nobody but me,” he finished, nodding, and buried a groan in Albus’ bony shoulder. This fight with himself, he had to decide on his own, but Albus would be damned if he let go again now.  
  
A bell chimed inside. Suddenly, he was very aware of his own half-nakedness, but far from ready to dress again. It would have set an end to all of this again, heedless of Gellert robbing him of sleep again tonight or not. Getting dressed after having been shagged thoroughly by him always meant another goodbye.  
So Albus leaned back, let his head thump against the dull grey wall and tried to smile through the urge to shout. Both his arms he settled loosely on Gellert’s shoulders, joining his hands behind his damp neck. He really was a sight to behold in this state, messed up in the most positive way, pupils blown wide like the moon.  
“I don’t actually _want_ to leave you. You and me, we were meant to be, Al. But you’re… different from me. Very, very different.”  
“And yet,” he said quietly. Gellert inclined his head in acknowledgement.  
“And yet. You’re hurting, I can feel it every sodding waking minute. You’re in my dreams, something pulls at me every time I apparate and if I follow, it leads me straight to you.”  
“You know exactly what pulls you towards me,” Albus stated very clearly, not taking any nonsense in that area. They knew what bound them for all eternity, what declared them married, strictly speaking, but neither of them had had the courage yet to make it an open fact. Maybe, they both dreamed of a proper betrothal sometime in the future. “And just to state the obvious, you look like shite too.”  
“Thank you, love, how kind of you. I hope you’ve been sleeping well?”  
“No, I don’t,” he said curtly and that was it. Gellert observed him with a new-found scrutiny that searched for the little details beneath the obviously shagged out appearance. Albus was still riding that high, otherwise he’d be sobbing already. He was so terribly done with absolutely everything. Hogwarts had been his home for the longest time and he loved it fiercely, being pulled apart however tended to wear the strongest man down sooner or later.  
  
Slowly, Gellert stepped into the space between them and kissed his forehead. He took a deep breath seemingly for courage.  
“What happened to Ariana…” Albus inhaled sharply. Never had they talked about that particular afternoon, it was the one taboo neither of them breached for fear of losing their less than stable routine. If you could call the few visits of Gellert with mind-blowing sex and inevitable tears afterwards that…  
“Don’t,” he warned, but Gellert ignored him and pressed on.  
“I will forever be in deep regret about that day. I should not have used a Cruciatus curse on your brother, as dense a fool as he might be, and I could hardly blame you for wanting me to wait for another year until he would have been finished with school and able to take care of your sister full time. Those were his plans all along, weren’t they?”  
Albus nodded, eyes closed forcefully because he absolutely refused to cry now. It felt so close to salvation, to the relief he needed so badly, to be wrong now would destroy him entirely.  
“Yes. He’s… off, somewhere, now. Abandoned the house. Left it to me. Haven’t gotten around to selling it yet.”  
“And you shouldn’t. Albus, love, look at me,” Gellert said without missing a beat and kissed him when Albus did in fact not open his eyes due to the soul-crushing fear of a truth he couldn’t bear. To be kissed so softly, however, made him blink in surprise when Gellert pulled away. And there it was, that teasing smile he loved so much, not as full of himself as usually.  
“If you’re trying to ease your conscious,” he whispered and licked away a salty tear, “there’s no need. I know for a fact who cast the spell that gave the rest to my already dying sister and it wasn’t you. ‘t was me. But she had an Obscurus and sooner or later…”  
“You hate yourself, don’t you? How…?”  
“Pensieve at Hogwarts,” he replied too quickly and buried his head in Gellert’s collar again. How he cradled him in a tight embrace that spoke more than words, that spoke of gratitude for finally knowing the truth and longing and traveling the world with half his heart in England... Gods, but how Albus hated crying. Made the eyes sore and the heart heavy, nothing more. Nothing cleansing about bawling your eyes out about the unfairness of life. “Stay. Stay with me, goddammit, your place is at my side and mine at yours and everything else is utterly useless. We’re useless without each other.”  
“I’m sorry?” It sounded almost amused, which just channelled Albus’ anger. That fucking bell rang again. To hell with it all, honestly. In a cry resembling a child, he boxed the sweaty spot over Gellert’s heart and looked up again, fiercely.  
“You were in San Francisco, were you not? Looking for the Elder Wand?”  
  
Gellert’s entire demeanour changed. His openly torn expression closed down and something in his gaze shifted. Any second now, he’d retreat.  
“Yes.” A short answer for a stupid question. Albus scowled.  
“Yes, well, it’s in Prussia and I know the man who has it. Retired duelist, intends to take the wand to his grave. A wand maker.” At this, Gellert’s eyes grew very large indeed and he honest to god forgot to close his mouth. He looked rather stunning so shocked, even gaping like a fish.  
“You have been searching too? Albus, are you serious? We’ve been searching for the same Hallow all this time and you didn’t say a single word about it?”  
“And so haven’t you, you twat! I love you, for fuck’s sake, and while I’ll happily let you shag me into oblivion for the rest of my life, I will not be toyed with so. I’m not your dirty little secret as neither you are mine, I wear a ring most of the time so that all those people stop questioning me, which just made it worse because now the first ask for children. You belong to me, and I to you, and that’s the end of it.”  
  
To be quite frank, Gellert closed his mouth in utter defeat. He started laughing with his shining eyes again, carved his thin lips into an almost-smile, obviously surprised. Albus kept staring at him in silent fury, daring him to deny them both.  
“Indeed, it is.” There was another kiss, and a broken sob, a tear that turned into a hundred, and the damned bell rang for the last time. “Back to Godric’s Hollow, then? Where it all began? What about Hogwarts?”  
“Sod Hogwarts,” Albus mumbled and regretted it immediately. “No, honestly, the school year is almost finished. I was planning on writing a book on Transfiguration and the curriculum, but I actually like teaching the younger years. Besides, I attend conferences like this one all the time anyway. Nobody will so much as lift an eyebrow at me disappearing on an irregular basis. This is my life now.” He exhaled, stealing himself. “But it’s lacking. You were right in that I’m wasted without you by my side. So will you come back to me?” For the longest second in his life, Gellert appeared to be seriously considering his options. Then, his focus darted to the left where people walked back into the conference room without noticing them, of course. Thank the heavens for visual shield spells.  
“To come back to you will be the easiest thing in the world, Albus. Now, I do believe you have a lesson or two to teach those pigheads in there about your subject of Mastery – but not without pants.”  
  
Albus blushed a deep shade of red, and somewhere behind his battered heart, he felt himself becoming whole again.


End file.
